Chemicals and Bioproducts from Biomass

Recently, Biotechnology for Biofuels took the decision to widen its scope to also include articles on the biological production of chemicals and bioproducts derived from biomass and CO2. Whereas a large proportion of the articles in Biotechnology for Biofuels still deal with the pretreatment, hydrolysis and bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol, the journal also has published a number of interesting articles related to bio-based chemicals and other bioproducts. This retrospective thematic issue assembles recent articles since 2015 to highlight these areas of research.

Glycolic acid (GA) is a two-carbon hydroxyacid with applications in the cosmetic, textile, and medical industry. Microbial GA production from all sugars can be achieved by engineering the natural glyoxylate sh...

Animal wastes are of particular environmental concern due to greenhouse gases emissions, odor problem, and potential water contamination. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective and widely used technology to ...

To develop pathways for advanced biofuel production, and to understand the impact of host metabolism and environmental conditions on heterologous pathway engineering for economic advanced biofuels production f...

Integrating waste management with fuels and chemical production is considered to address the food waste problem and oil crisis. Approximately, 600 million tonnes crude glycerol is produced from the biodiesel i...

Increasing interest of non-conventional yeasts has been observed for many years due to their biochemical characteristics and potential applications. Well-studied, oleaginous yeast Y. lipolytica is an attractive h...

Glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel, has become a readily available and inexpensive carbon source for the production of high-value products. However, the main drawback of glycerol utilization is the low consump...

Photosynthetic organisms can be used for renewable and sustainable production of fuels and high-value compounds from natural resources. Costs for design and operation of large-scale algae cultivation systems c...

Biohythane is a new and high-value transportation fuel present as a mixture of biomethane and biohydrogen. It has been produced from different organic matters using anaerobic digestion. Bioenergy can be recove...

In order to establish a cost-efficient biodiesel biorefinery, valorization of its main by-product, crude glycerol, is imperative. Recently, Ustilago trichophora TZ1 was found to efficiently produce malic acid fro...

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is a naturally occurring biopolymer made from repeating units of l-glutamic acid, d-glutamic acid, or both. Since some bacteria are capable of vigorous γ-PGA biosynthesis from renewab...

C5–C8 medium-chain carboxylic acids are valuable chemicals as the precursors of various chemicals and transport fuels. However, only a few strict anaerobes have been discovered to produce them and their produc...

2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD) can be used as a liquid fuel additive to replace petroleum oil, and as an important platform chemical in the pharmaceutical and plastic industries. Microbial production of 2,3-BD by Bacill...

Cyanobacteria are phototrophic prokaryotes that convert inorganic carbon as CO2 into organic compounds at the expense of light energy. They need only inorganic nutrients and can be cultivated to high densities us...

Synthesis gas, a mixture of CO, H2, and CO2, is a promising renewable feedstock for bio-based production of organic chemicals. Production of medium-chain fatty acids can be performed via chain elongation, utilizi...

Microbes have been extensively explored for production of environment-friendly fuels and chemicals. The microbial fermentation pathways leading to these commodities usually involve many redox reactions. This m...

The large surplus of crude glycerol, as main low-value waste stream in biodiesel production, has led to the investigation of new possibilities for the production of value-added chemicals from this feedstock. N...

Geraniol is an acyclic monoterpene alcohol, which exhibits good prospect as a gasoline alternative. Geraniol is naturally encountered in plants at low concentrations and an attractive target for microbial engi...

Glycerol is currently an over-produced chemical that can be used as substrate for the production of high value products such as 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) in fermentation processes. The aim of this study was to...

The acyl carrier protein (ACP) is an essential and ubiquitous component of microbial synthesis of fatty acids, the natural precursor to biofuels. Natural fatty acids usually contain long chains of 16 or more c...

Biologically produced alkanes can be used as ‘drop in’ to existing transportation infrastructure as alkanes are important components of gasoline and jet fuels. Despite the reported microbial production of alka...

A wide range of value-added by-products can be potentially produced from waste activated sludge (WAS) through anaerobic fermentation, among which short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are versatile green chemicals,...

Bio-manufacturing of high-value chemicals in parallel to renewable biofuels has the potential to dramatically improve the overall economic landscape of integrated lignocellulosic biorefineries. However, this w...

Numerous strategies have evolved recently for the generation of genetically modified or synthetic microalgae and cyanobacteria designed for production of ethanol, biodiesel and other fuels. In spite of their o...